Wednesday, December 06, 2006

NFC Playoff Table Week 13: Hanging Around

There's not a whole lot to say about the playoff chase this week. Da Bears have clinched the NFC North, and the Saints, Cowboys and Seahawks are running away with their divisions. With four teams at 6-6 (Giants, Panthers, Falcons and Eagles), all of whom have at least three games left against NFC teams with .500 or better records, and three 5-7 teams (Vikings, 49ers and Rams), the Wild Cards are still very much up for grabs.

If any of the seven teams still in it wins out, they will make the playoffs, whether it be at 10-6 or at 9-7. That being said, none of the wild card contenders are good enough to win out. They just aren't consistent enough to do so. And that includes the (hopefully) Tarvaris Revolution led Vikings. 8-8 will be good enough to get in, but it will depend on a team's tiebreakers. The Vikings currently hold the tiebreaker over the Panthers, and face a must win game against the Rams in the final week of the season. Aside from that, the best way to insure a playoff spot at 8-8 is for the loss to be against the Jets, leaving them with a 8-4 NFC record, which would be better than any of their contenders, if they were to also fall to 8-8. A loss to an NFC team muddles the picture, but would still leave them with tiebreakers over the Falcons and possibly the Eagles or Giants (depending on tiebreakers that get too complicated for even me). Of course, it could be a moot point if the 49ers are the team that the Vikings are tied with. San Francisco's games at Seattle and against Denver make that unlikely, thankfully.

So if the Vikings win out, they're in. If they go 3-1, with their only loss coming against the Jets, they're more than likely in. If that loss comes against the Packers or Lions, it gets a little dicey. And a 2-2 finish means that Childress won't have equaled Mike Tice's career postseason berths in one season. Hopefully, it doesn't come to that.

4 comments:

Although I'm back to liking the Vikes chances, I really worry about every team they have left on the schedule. We all know full well that the Vikes could tank any, if not all, these remaining games. Especially if BJ is still pretending to be an NFL QB.

I feel the same way. I could see the Vikings finishing their season anywhere on the spectrum: from 5-11 to 9-7. A lot of it depends on the QB, makint it even harder to predict how the Vikings finish, since we don't know who's going to be under center yet.